Official and Unofficial Actors

in the Policy Process

Professor David Dapice, The Fulbright School, Oct. 24, 2017
“Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion to knowing
how they are made.” – John Godfrey Saxe
Official Actors – Those with a legal role
in making and implementing laws
• Legislators are supposed to make laws and approve budgets, taxes
• The executive (president and staff or governors, mayors) are
supposed to implement laws and often propose them to legislators
• The judiciary is supposed to determine if a law is legal under the
constitution and how laws apply in specific cases
• The bureaucracy or civil service is supposed to administer the laws
and create regulations.
The Legislative Branch
• Represent a specific geographic area, not the nation
• Individual legislators tend to specialize in topics of interest to their
constituents and are not policy experts in many fields
• Also have to help constituents who need help with government
matters – also called “case work”
• Provide oversight and hearings on topics of concern
• Need staff and assistance to deal with volume of work – many staff
and specialized groups like GAO, CRS, CBO in the US
• Pass laws – thousands filed each year but few become law
Executive Branch – President, staff and
appointed political officials
• Has legal responsibility to implement laws
• Is elected by the entire nation (or state, if a governor)
• Has the ability to veto legislation passed by legislators, but the veto
can be over-ridden with difficulty – need 2/3 in both houses
• Often acts as national (state) leader and spokes person
• Tends to get much more news coverage than legislators
• If popular, can set an agenda and persuade others
• Actions are subject to legislative and judicial review
Judiciary
• Have the right to determine if laws conform to the constitution when
a case is brought before them
• Can determine how a law applies in practice in a specific case, but
precedent set may determine how law is applied in general
• Cannot enforce laws (“have neither the sword nor the purse”)
• Supposed to be neutral, but politics enters into appointments
• Often used by minorities when legislative and executive are not
supportive
Civil Service (or Bureaucracy)
• Job is to apply and implement the laws on a day to day basis
• Also asked to create implementing regulations
• Structures tend to be permanent, rule based, hierarchical, trained, full
time, predictable and reliant on documentation
• Concerns over whether or not the civil service is responsive to the
public or to the legislature
• May not be transparent or easily accountable
• While amount spent is rising, number of civil servants is not
Some issues in public policy
• Public goods are not divisible or exclusive – national defense or a light
house – so are hard to provide on a market basis
• A “free rider” gets benefits but does not pay in money or time
• Most people want a lot of benefits but do not want to pay for them
• This creates conflict since SOMEONE has to pay more than their “fair
share” if others pay less
• This dilemma may also create debt as borrowing seems to solve the
conflict for a while
• Many citizens do not vote or take part in public activities – why?
Many eligible voters do not vote
• In some countries, non-participation is taxed or illegal
• Where it is a choice, normally 60-85% vote (US was 65% in 2016) – see by
country at https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/voter-turnout
• In “off-year” and lo cal elections, participation is much lower
• Those who do not vote are poorer, less educated, and younger
• Those who do not vote also do not participate in other ways
• They often are ignorant of issues and rules, but have opinions
• “Rational ignorance” argues that many are sensible not to bother,
especially at local levels – but mobilization is possible
• Unclear what impact this has on government, but likely not good
• Most want maximum benefits and minimum cost, effort
Interest Groups are major unofficial players
• Interests have motivation, members, information and often money
• Interest groups can be institutional or membership based
• Peak Associations represent large numbers and have influence
• Tend to be business based but may be cause based such as
environment, civil rights, or ideology/religion (anti-abortion)
• These groups typically lobby or try to sway legislators and regulators
• This is a legal right (but not duty) protected by the US Constitution
• Corruption involves buying votes (of legislators); lobbying involves
providing information and campaign contributions – thin line.
Social Movements are also important
• Tend to be organized with members around a single issue
• Try to elevate their issue of concern and get favorable laws,
regulations, judicial review and outcomes
• Require skillful mobilization of normally uninvolved people
• Examples are gay rights, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, home
schooling (right to teach children at home; not in public school)
• May use protests and litigation as well as letter writing or equivalent
• Some elite groups try to appear “grass roots” but are not – this is
called “astroturf” – meaning fake grass.
Think Tanks provide policy ideas and analysis
• These study public issues and publish research and appear on TV and
radio or write editorials in newspapers or on-line
• Some think tanks have a clear ideological position
• Some try to be centrist, neutral or flexible and driven by the problem
• They can add valuable insight into public policy issues
Political Parties are unofficial participants
• The US has two major political parties
• They tend to fluctuate between being “pure” and narrow or “big
tent” and more diverse
• Their main concern is to be in power
• This means responding to voters and to donors that finance
campaigns – often not the same thing
• It is not unusual to have splits within major parties (“I am a member
of no organized party; I am a Democrat.” – Will Rogers)
The Media are watchdogs but in flux
• Freedom of the press is promised in the Constitution
• However, economic pressures may close newspapers or cause news
coverage to deteriorate in quality and quantity
• Advertising based print and even TV are under stress due to the rise
of other venues, such as the Internet
• There is a big difference between news producers (journalists) and
news aggregators (use output of others, like Google)
• Many voters get news from social media which is “personalized” – fail
to get different perspectives
• Many fear the “watchdog” role of press is in danger
How Do All These Groups Work Together?
• In some cases with little publicity, a closed “iron triangle” of legislators (in a
committee), interest groups and regulators negotiate over budgets,
regulations and other details
• “Logrolling” is when different groups of legislators agree to vote in support
of each other, though some votes are not relevant to them
• In other cases with more publicity, there are a larger number of actors and
more transparency. This may result in slower decision making.
• The “policy domain” is a topical area where all actors function, compete
and compromise to reach decisions
• These actors are called the “policy community” and can change
• Mobilization can change the dynamics in the policy domain
Different countries have different dynamics
• The US is a particular example of how policy is made, not a model
• Other countries have other structures, constitutions and problems
• Parliamentary systems often find it easier to pass legislation
• In many countries, the executive is stronger and courts are weaker
• But, whatever the details, policy problems are solved with some
combination of popular and special interest input, formal
government structures, expert analysis and one or more political
parties.
• A civil service is needed to implement legislation but they perform at
different levels depending on place, topic, and transparency